Exit, Stage Left: Obligatory Year-End List of Famous Artists Who Died in 2007

From the Chicago Sun-Times. This time of year we are inundated with various lists and all kinds of retrospectives. But it does interest me, nevertheless, to review and consider some of the names of some of those who have left the planet in the last year.

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Some of the people on this list I have never heard of. Some I've heard of and don't especially appreciate, although I'm certain others do. Some I know of only marginally, and others I knew quite well through their work. Some I appreciated in passing, or for a season, and there are some whose artistic efforts made a significant impression on me, even informing my own artwork or understanding of life.

But, no matter who you are or what you've done, when it's your time to go, you go.

The beatings will continue until morale improves...

From a Washington Post article:

"...the industry (RIAA) maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer."

The Recording Industry Association of America continues to persecute and prosecute. While their efforts to fight international piracy are worthwhile and to be applauded, their domestic strategy of attacking consumers with outrageous lawsuits couldn't be more misguided. With CD sales tanking and the economy of the music industry at an all-time low, they continue to rearrange the deck chairs and throw the passengers overboard. This will only drive listeners away from high-quality music formats. It is bad for music, bad for artists, bad for listeners, and bad for business.

This RIAA faq page for "students doing reports" does have some interesting things to say and represents their viewpoint on all of this. Some of it is good, some of it is bad.

This is the same organization that tried to squash the home-based recording studio movement that was born back in the 1980's. They wanted to make it illegal for individual artists to produce music for profit from a project studio in a residential setting and they brought lawsuits on several home studio owners. Happily, with very limited success.

The RIAA is not really in the business of promoting art, though, in spite of their altruistic statements. Their real functon is to protect the monopolistic business interests of what remains of the dinosaur that used to be the American record industry.

We need a new paradigm. And it's coming.

Gun control is hitting what you are aiming at.

Titular prepositional termination misplacements notwithstanding, this is still quite funny to me.

"At one point, Huckabee’s party turned toward a cluster of reporters and cameramen and, when they kicked up a pheasant, fired shotgun blasts over the group’s heads. "

Yeah, yeah...so his aim is a little high. Then the article goes on to whine a bit about gun safety. Jibber-jabber.

Fred probably wouldn't have missed. Which reminds me of this hilarious video about Fred Thompson. Go check it out.

Pic at left from one of my favorite sites, "How Stuff Works" and their wonderful description of shotgun technology. A smart, fun, and useful website.

Monovision: Eye can see my brain.

The reason I am more frequently compelled to dramatically stare off into the middle distance is that, as a sufferer of progressive physical decrepitude, my view of both the distant, blue horizon as well as the teeming microcosm just inches from my nose has become increasingly blurry over the last couple of years.

This is, of course, due to the ravages of time and that fact that we live in a fallen world ruled more by entropy than by justice. Like most manly men, I scoff at my own geezerly weaknesses, squint, set my jaw, and just lean into the wind.

All of that to say this. Yesterday my optometrist said that I am becoming increasingly presbyopic, whereupon I snorted in denial and told him that I was, in fact, a member of the Wesleyan church just north of town. Anyway, he recommended something that sounded totally whacked at first, but I decided to give it a try since he is a doctor and all. We had been discussing my desire to wear contact lenses again and the possibilities for those occularly impaired at both the near and far reaches. He suggested a solution that he called "monovision".

So I now have a contact lens in my right eye that is optimized for distance and a lens in my left eye that is designed for reading and other nearfield activities. The doctor says I'll get used to it, that my brain should be able to adapt. And I'm always up for teaching my brain new tricks.

So far it's not really too uncomfortable, just a little weird. Honestly, it's like everything I look at is both blurry and focused at the same time...which it is, I guess. Anyway, I've been reading about it online today, just to be sure it wasn't something my eye doctor made up to get me out of his chair. This funny little article is by an optometrist who recently "went mono" himself.

Has anybody else out there tried this? What do you think?

"The Death of High Fidelity"

I deeply dislike Rolling Stone Magazine. When it comes to politics and cultural commentary, it is a worthless rag and always has been. Their writers and editors will go to whatever length necessary to be edgy or radical, eager and willing to completely disregard both common sense and elementary decency for the sake of selling a few more copies. You can tell that, politically, they swing so far to the radical left not because they necessarily believe it, but because they believe that they are supposed to believe it. Because they are Rolling @#~&%$*! Stone Magazine! Give me a break.

However, credit needs to be given where credit is due and much more often than not, their reporting on modern music is very, very good. This article on modern music production in the age of the MP3 is right on, except for the typo's. I have previously blogged on this at length because I think that the decline of technical quality in an age that is resplendent in technological achievement has taken a terrible toll on art in general and music in particular. It is a grim reflection on the poverty of our collective soul. One of the reassuring things about this article is that it suggests that other people are feeling the same way and that some artists, engineers, and producers are starting to resist the recording industry marketing forces that have exacerbated this problem.

'Tis the season...

'Tis the season to be busy, but it is still a wonderful time of year. There is joy and excitement in the air. And, of course, if you happen to be shopping at the mall, there can be frustration and annoyance, too. But don't let it get to you.

For those of you who are working the front lines of retail, do whatever you can to keep your heart light. Don't let the long hours and the hard work, or the rude, demanding, and inconsiderate people suck the joy out of your Christmas. Don't let yourself get cynical or discouraged. Find comfort in remembering what this season is really about. Dwell on that whenever possible and pray for strength and a charity of soul. Drink plenty of water and eat a decent meal on your break. You'll make it.

Our shopping is nearly done, although we are still waiting on a couple of things to be delivered. As soon as those few straggling presents show up, the box we've prepared for my brother's famiy will be shipped to Virginia. It will arrive around the middle of next week, hopefully within a day or so of their return home from visiting family in Florida.

Today I have three rehearsals and a worship service. Tomorrow, Sunday, there are two more worship services and then, at noon, we deconstruct the main sanctuary and rebuild it for our Christmas Eve services. On Monday at 11:00 AM we have a tech rehearsal, then a dress rehearsal. Soundcheck is at 7:00 that evening and then we have Christmas Eve services at 8:00 and 11:00.

Christmas Day I expect we'll sleep in a bit and then head over to my parent's house around noon for a big dinner and some gift-giving.

I'm sure I'll say it again, but Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Great excitement, barely contained.

Remember this post? Well, of course you do.

Lord willing, next week I'll be ordering my MacBook Pro. Good things do sometimes come to those who wait.


To quote Sir John Gielgud, "I am very pleased."

Pioneer Woman and Chex Mix

When I was a kid, my Mom would always make Chex Mix at Christmas time. Always from scratch and always the classic recipe that you can find almost anywhere, including on the Chex cereal boxes. It is one of the most intense synaesthetic memories of my youth. The smell of this stuff cooking is almost as good as the taste when it's done. Now, of course, you can make this any time of the year, but it is really best at Christmas. It just is.

And whatever that dreck is that they sell prepackaged in the stores nowadays and call Chex Mix? That ain't it. It takes about $25 groceries to do it right, but it is worth it.

Here is a link to a great version of this recipe, complete with pictures and detailed instructions on a blog called The Pioneer Woman Cooks. This is a sub-blog, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Confessions of a Pioneer Woman blog which is authored by this crazy woman that lives on a ranch out on the Oklahoma prairie somewhere. She is an incredible photographer, a very entertaining writer, and, by all evidences, a fabulous cook. She's got a lot going on and her blog is extremely popular with some posts generating thousands of comments. Yeesh.

I'm going to be making up a big batch of this stuff this weekend to take to church and I will be including PW's secret ingredient in mine, too. Yum.

Ruminating on Red

This post by Sharon on, among other things, the color red and featuring her beautiful work "Petals", got me thinking again about something interesting that I recently read and reminded me of a book that I can wholeheartedly recommend if you are looking for a Christmas present for a musician or artist.

In Daniel Levitin’s book, “This Is Your Brain On Music”, in his discussion of the biology of how the brain organizes and categorizes the things we perceive into prototypes he tells how researchers used the color red in an interesting study. There is a tribal group in New Guinea, the Dani, who have only two words in their language to designate color, and those words really, essentially, only correspond to light and dark.

The researchers showed the Dani subjects chips with dozens of different shades of red and then asked them to pick out the best examples of this color, the chips that most effectively represent the definitive examples of the color red. Overwhelmingly, and in spite of the fact that their language does not allow for descriptive discrimination, the Dani selected the same red that Americans select in the same study. The results were the same for other colors that they couldn’t name, like green and blue.

From this work, it is theorized that there is a class of prototypical information that the brain categorizes, such as the principal color groups, that “are a consequence of our retinal physiology; certain shades of red are universally going to be regarded as more vivid, more central than others because a specific wavelength of visible light will cause the “red” receptors in our retina to fire maximally.”

In other words, there is a physiological component to how we understand color, in addition to such cultural notions as “fire engine red” or “candy apple red” that, uhm, color our perceptions. It is part of our design.

How does the way we perceive color relate to music? Until you read the book, you'll just have to trust me, it does.

My apologies to the color-blind. And the left-handed. And anyone else feeling neurologically disenfranchised this Christmas…the baby Jesus came to earth for you, too.

Dore's, "The Nativity"

(click to enlarge)

Country, but no Western.

Here's a blurb about radio formats. It's short, so I've reproduced the whole thing. It is Reuters quoting Billboard stats, so it is probably pretty accurate.

With respect to the content of the report below, from a stylistic standpoint, I think contemporary country music differs from much adult contemporary and mainstream pop radio only in detail. It's usually still got a bit of a twang, nowadays, but a lot of it rocks pretty hard. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I really like radio and always have, but I usually prefer the offbeat to the mainstream. There is so much repetition on most music stations and a lot of the music that is most popular is aesthetically repulsive to me. I like what I like and I don't like what I don't like. I really want to hear new things by new people on a pretty regular basis and, generally, that's not what radio is good at.

Typically, I like to listen to a couple of the local college stations because they are eclectic and less professionally programmed. I also like WTTS 93.2 FM, which serves the Indy area and only just reaches our area. They have an interesting, non-corporate driven playlist that is always fresh. They even have a show hosted by a guy, Phil the Listener, who is actually not a professional DJ, but just a guy. He plays whatever he likes. That would be great fun, wouldn't it?

But I digress, here's the article:

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NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Country is still king when it comes to radio, but news/talk is closing the gap.

As of October, there were 2,054 country stations in the United States, which is up slightly from 2,049 a year earlier, according to M Street, which tracks such statistics. News/talk stations now total 2,026, an increase of 18 from a year ago. The number of news/talk stations has increased by nearly 500 in the past 10 years -- there were 1,567 in 1997. Country, by comparison, has lost more than 450 stations during the same time period.

Among current music-driven formats, country is tops, followed by contemporary Christian stations (920), Spanish (917), adult contemporary (666) and top 40 (495). Contemporary Christian stations are on the rise, up from 897 a year ago, as are Spanish-language stations, which tallied 819 at this time in 2006. AC is essentially flat, while top 40 is down 15 stations from a year ago.

Other formats that number more than 300 stations include "hot" adult contemporary (up eight stations to 392), alternative rock (basically flat at 385 stations), Southern gospel (up 15 from last year to 316) and rock (up nine stations to 300).

M Street began tracking rhythmic adult contemporary, a relatively new format that plays everything from Akon to Bee Gees and Michael Jackson to Janet Jackson, earlier this year and counts 27 mostly large-market stations in the format.

Reuters/Billboard - Friday 12/14/07

Blessings: Rural Mail Delivery in the Snow

"The United States Postal Service says 14 thousand rural route mail carriers across the country did not get a paycheck this week because of a glitch in the payroll system."

Happily, I am not delivering mail this year. That job was a blessing when I took it, and it was a blessing when I was able to let it go. I resigned my position as substitute rural carrier for the USPS a couple of months ago because I was just getting too busy with my real job. And, honestly, I was not looking forward to driving the backroads of Randolph county on days like today when the roads are icy and the wind is blowing snow like a white monsoon. It can be a very difficult and dangerous job. In the winter, your rural carrier really earns their pay so be nice to them. Give them a Christmas card and put some cookies or brownies in your mailbox for them this year.

PSA: DVD vs. HD DVD - Compatible?

Public Service Announcement:

Today I needed to grok some low-impact, non-fat, lead-free, farm-fresh, semi-technical info about DVD's and HD DVD's and whether or not, or to what degree, the two formats were compatible. The bottom line is that you can play your DVD's on an HD DVD player, but not the other way around.

Here is a concise and easy-to-understand explanation of DVD and HD DVD technology at HowStuffWorks.com.

Okay, now back to online gift shopping.

Jazz Christmas

Our church always cranks it up a notch at Christmas. Actually, we strive for as high a calibre of creativity and execution as possible every weekend, but we always try to do something extra at Christmas. Our primary motivation is that we recognize that this is the time of year when it is often possible to reach some people who perhaps are otherwise reluctant to cross the threshold. The presentation of the gospel through the lens of the biblical Christmas story can often facilitate the honest introspection necessary for an unbeliever or a marginal believer to recast their entire life in a new and profound direction. A direction that will lead them into the life eternal.

This year, we are producing a dinner theater performance entitled The Christmas Rewind combined with about an hours worth of music. The play is a hilarious spoofy retelling of the Christmas story with four actors and a narrator, characterized by snappy repartee and a dizzying procession of lightning fast costume changes. We are fortunate that we have some really gifted actors and technical folk who are doing an excellent job.

For the musical segment of the program, we are doing several special Christmas arrangements, including the one by my friend Mark Bovee, mentioned in the previous entry as well as half-a-dozen or so jazzed-up Christmas carols. We brought in some friends to play in our little pit orchestra. Jeff Reed, an outstanding jazz pianist from Indianapolis and Pat O'Neal, an area band director who plays jazz sax and flute. With Kevin McDonald on drums, me on guitar, and my buddy Steve Matthews (who is way too busy to blog right now) playing bass and leading us, it is really a fun group. And every one of those guys is a serious artist...I mean really good, professional players. I'm fortunate to get to hang with these guys.

The only unfortunate thing is that I just really suck as a jazz guitar player. First of all, I never play straight-ahead jazz except at Christmas. I just don't. I like jazz and I listen to it often, but I am really a rock-and-roll guy. My roots are rock, R&B, funk, blues, and other pop styles. I enjoy improvisation, but I just don't go for the jazz vibe usually. I could be a jazz guy, I should be a jazz guy, and I wouldn't mind being a jazz guy. In fact, I would love being a jazz guy. But, to date anyway, I just haven't put the time in necessary to make it happen. So I fake it. Actually, I know all the characteristic chord voicings and can play jazz rhythm guitar all evening long. But when it comes time for some kind of blistering solo through changes...I just sound like a rank beginner. For me, it's usually like tip-toeing through a mine field. When it's my turn to solo I find myself concentrating not on playing something melodic, but just on avoiding playing any wrong notes...and that, folks, ain't art. It also makes me sweat profusely until my 16-bars are done and I'm safely back comping rhythm.

In addition to not really having the right mindset, I don't have the right equipment. To really play jazz, you need one of these babies:


Now that is sweet. It is a Gibson L-5 CES. It's called having the right tool for the job. Admittedly, owning one of these babies wouldn't make me a jazz player any more than owning a power drill makes me a carpenter. But, hey, it would be a good start. At least I would feel more like a jazz player, which would help.

And even though my solos would still sound like crap, people would say, "man, that guy's guitar is beautiful."

That is one of the the best things about music. Regardless of how good you are and how much you know, just over the horizon is whole new unexplored territory waiting for you to venture in. Living forever is going to be so cool, too, because I'll finally have time to explore those unknown lands.

In heaven, I'll be a hot jazz guitar player. Until then, I'll fake it every chance I get.

MBPYNHO: "It's For You He Came" by Mark Bovee

Music By People You've Never Heard Of - Christmas edition.

For several years now, one of my favorite Christmas albums has been "It's For You He Came" by my friend Mark Bovee. Mark is an excellent pianist as well as a prolific and accomplished orchestrator and arranger, as well. He has an impressive discography, but he is kind of a behind the scenes guy. Alot of his best work has been making someone else sound great. He is a very humble and gifted artist. His wife, Christi, is an outstanding singer, too.

There is a wide array of styles on this album, but it is decidedly jazzy in character, overall. One of my favorites is his Latin-jazz arrangement of "What Child Is This." At our church we perform this one pretty much every year, usually featuring my wife, Nancy, on the solo vocal. Silky smooth and slow-burning, like the orange embers in your fireplace on a cold winter's night.

You can listen to excerpts from this album and buy a copy here. They make excellent Christmas presents.

"Security Guard Who Stopped Shooter Credits God"

I find this story deeply compelling for reasons that I am not quite able to articulate.

PSA: Your printer cartridge is NOT empty.

Public Service Announcement

I just want to be sure everyone knows this. Just in case nobody has filled you in.

When your computer pops up a message telling you that your printer cartridge is almost out of ink, it is a big, fat, pernicious lie. You've got plenty of ink in there so leave it alone. Don't pull that old cartridge until the last page you print is all fadey and hard to read.

The people that make the ink cartridges are merely trying to get you to throw yours away early so that you'll buy more. They'll tell you they've got 8 kids and baby needs new shoes. They lie.

It is a scam. Kind of like insurance, atheism, and interest-free credit cards. Only not as bad.

So many books, so little time.

This interesting essay about unwanted books is well-written and fascinating.

I love books, bookstores, and libraries. My mother is a librarian and worked for many years in the Dallas Independent School District, primarily at Phyllis Wheatley Elementary. My brother and I as children were initiated into the arcane lore of the Dewey Decimal System at a very early age. We both learned to read prior to kindergarten.

Mom also taught us, as well as our children, the correct way to turn a page and yes, there is a correct way. You carefully select the top page of your book from the upper right hand corner and tenderly draw your finger towards you along the edge of the page as you turn it. It's not hard, but it is specific and intentional. It teaches you to value not only the words, but to respect the physical repository itself, the actual book.

I love the crisp, fresh smell of a new book, both hardbacks and paperbacks. And I also like the musty smell of an old book, especially one that has perhaps not been cracked for decades. I have a small collection of antique hymnals that I love to read through from time to time.

I own quite a few books and, generally, I am loathe to part with any of them, even the bad ones. Some of my favorites are obscure, old novels like John Brick's The Rifleman and Piers Anthony's Sos the Rope. Some I read over and over, like Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. For others, only once is necessary, like Neal Stephenson's excellent but exhausting Baroque Cycle trilogy .

I have a special bookshelf on which sits those waiting to be read. Currently in que we find Tony Dungee's autobiography, Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts, Julia Cameron's The Right to Write, Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew, and, I think, some random John Grisham novel.

Like most bibliophiles, I have classics on the shelf that I need and want to read, and I have stupid, poorly written trash that I rather wish I hadn't read. I like what I like and I feel no compulsion to pretend that I like books that I don't like. I don't care for the writing of either Bill Bryson or Dave Eggers, for example, in spite of how popular they are. Some of my current favorite authors include John Scalzi, Neal Stephenson, William Blake, and Donald Miller. In the recent past, they have included William Gibson, Bruce Feiler, Randy Alcorn, and Michael Chabon.

My brother has the largest collection of science fiction and fantasy books that I have ever seen or heard of. And, of course, they are carefully organized and properly shelved . Mine used to be similarly arranged, but some maintenance is currently required. Fortunately, my mom doesn't come into my home office wherein my books reside.

I keep an ongoing list of books that I want to read and at this time of year, especially, I like to give and receive books as gifts. I also enjoy buying a new book at the airport, when I'm on my way to fly somewhere, knowing that I'll be held inert and captive for a couple of undisturbed hours. Except for my Bible, I seldom take any books with me when I travel, specifically so that I can indulge in this little spontaneous pleasure.

What are your favorite books? Either something you have recently read that moves you, or something you read in years past that has stuck with you in some way or another. Some books, read at the right time of life, can really shape the way we think and the way we see the world. What books do that for you?

Scenes from a funeral

Nancy's mom, JoEllen Hockett, passed away on November 16th at the age of 77. She had suffered various ailments for the last few years, but her passing was still rather sudden and unexpected. She was a sweet and hilariously funny woman, the best mother-in-law a guy could ever hope to have.

We've spent a good bit of the last 3 weeks flying back and forth to Texas to be with her dad, as well as attend the funeral at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Hillsboro.

Here is a picture of Roy and the four kids, Nancy on his left, Mary, Steve, and Ann on his right. This was the first time that all of them were together in the same place in over 20 years. Ann, an artist who lives in Portland, Oregon reminds me a lot of Nancy's mom. Steve is an antique arms dealer, collector, and restorer and he lives in Texas. Mary lives in Cambridge City, Indiana.

Here is JP with Camomile Swarts. Cam is Mary's daughter and she and JP were the only two grandkids who could make it. Cam is a schoolteacher in Portland and her husband, Charles, works for a company that builds high-tech parade floats. They have a wonderful young son, Bryce, who I've mentioned several times previously. Ann has several lovely young adult children, too, but it wasn't possible for them to come. None of the great-grand kids were in attendance, either.

This is a picture of Roy and JoEllen's four kids, plus the children of Patsy Ruth, JoEllen's only sister, also deceased. So, first cousins all around.

Nancy's dad, Roy, is a great guy. A wise and interesting man with some great stories who, at 81, is as keen as he ever was, I think. Among other things, he is a Navy veteran from WWII and a professional numismatist. We'd like for him to move up to Indiana, but he's not too interested at this time.

While we were in Texas, we got to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant en todo el mundo. Danal's is located in Irving, on O'Conner Blvd., just south of Irving High School. Not far at all from the airport and easy to find. If you go anywhere near the D/FW area, you owe it to yourself to go there. They have their own salsa recipe and it is like no other - served warm, fresh, and savory. There is a special cooking area within sight of the dining area where a wizened abuelita makes the most amazing flour tortillas, right there and right now, and then they bring them to your table. It's not fancy, but it is the very best place I know of to eat authentic Mexican food. Get there if you can. You'll thank me later.

Nancy and JP on the flight home after the funeral. It was a redeye. We got in to Dayton a little after midnight. JP had a 3-hour drive back to IU/Bloomington for an 8:00 class. Nancy and I crashed about 1:30 AM.

Life goes on, doesn't it? We who remain adapt, adjust, and dwell a bit on how temporary all this around us really is and how fragile we really are. It will be our turn one day, all of us, to lay our bodies down to die. And I believe that is a good thing, a very good thing. We are built to live forever...but we weren't built to live here forever. I very much look forward to seeing JoEllen again on the other side.

Stevie Wonder and the Talk Box

My son forwarded this to me a couple of weeks ago and it is well worth the watching. Some vintage footage of Stevie Wonder and friends jamming on The Temptations tune, "Papa Was a Rolling Stone":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By-cF0W2JLw

Animator vs. Animation

This is a cool thing by Alan Becker of deviantart.com


Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

h/t Kem Meyer of Less Clutter & Noise

Too stupid to lean Left

I have been observing the fallout from the CNN-moderated Republican debate with great amusement. As it happened, I was able to watch most of the debate itself from the Atlanta airport where we were holed up for several hours on Monday evening. The debate was entertaining enough (Ron Paul is definitely the Republican's Dennis Kucinich, minus the UFO sightings and the child-bride), but it is funny to me what has happened since.

As you've probably heard, CNN didn't bother to check the backgrounds of any of the video question submitters and, lo and behold, roughly 1/3 of them have direct, current, and public ties to various Democratic party nominees and/or organizations. Heh.

There are a plethora of links available, but here is a quickie summary: http://instapundit.com/archives2/012336.php

CNN is squirmining because their only choices in response are to say, in some form:

1) "We didn't know." Which is true and makes them look really stupid.
2) "Hey, that's not true!" Which is false and makes them look really, really stupid.
3) "Uhm, we don't think it matters." Which, if true, makes them look biased and really, really stupid.

And, while the story is being generously covered in a lot of other media outlets, CNN's own coverage of the controversy goes something like, "And now, to Wolf Blitzer covering that raging grass fire outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma...".

I may start watching Fox News again.

I stole this Perryhead from James Lileks. If he wants it back all he has to do is ask politely.

Japanese Road Music

From the BBC Music Magazine,
Nov. 11, 2007:

Japanese researchers have come up with a novel alternative to the car radio, with the invention of a musical road surface. ‘Melody roads’ have specially-placed grooves cut into the asphalt, which lead to musical notes being heard inside the car when it drives over them. By calculating the exact distances needed between grooves to give different notes, the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has worked out how to transform rumbling road noise into recognisable melodies. With each one lasting for around 30 seconds, melodies can be heard on three sections of road in northern Japan.

This quirky musical invention came about after a bulldozer driver accidentally scraped notches into a road, drove over them, and heard a series of notes. Engineers at the research institute in Sapporo acted on his discovery, creating several test roads in Japan. Large coloured notes painted onto the road warn drivers of the upcoming blast of music. 28mph is reported to be the optimum listening speed, with the tempos being affected by different driving speeds.

‘You need to keep the car windows closed to hear well,’ The Guardian reports one Japanese blogger as saying. ‘Driving too fast will sound like playing fast forward, while driving around 12mph has a slow-motion effect, making you almost car sick.'

I think that is so cool.

Lemmings and the Luftwaffe

Some friendly online political banter with a good buddy of mine who, inexplicably, manages to vote incorrectly in every possible election reminded me of one of my favorite computer video games from yesteryear.

Yes, it was Lemmings. Go check out the link...some very interesting trivia about game design and stuff.

Another game that I truly, truly loved in the early days of computer games was Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, from LucasArts. I used to get up an hour early in the morning so that I could play this game before making breakfast for the family and going to work. It was a multi-faceted and challenging flight simulator, basically, that enabled you to fight WWII's air war over Europe. My favorite fighter plane was the P-51 Mustang, very closely followed by the P-38 Lightning which could rain an unbelievable torrent of death and destruction on the Nazis. The most difficult was the B-17 Bomber. Spectacularly rendered, it actually let you toggle amongst the pilot seat, various gunner turrets, and the bombardier's station to conduct battle. Flying one of those deep into Germany, doing some damage, and then flying all the way across Europe to land back on British soil was no easy task, even in the virtual realm. It was a difficult game to win and highly addictive.

If I had either of these today, I would get nothing done, I'm sure.

Flurry of Activity

We have snow flurries this morning. It doesn't really seem cold enough, but it is certainly noteworthy, nonetheless.

I am working on a project today that is about to eat my lunch. I have to finish and FedEx a presentation in order to complete my qualification requirements as a "Certified Church Consultant". I've had the lengthy written test done for some time, but I have procrastinated on writing the thesis, knowing that it would be time-consuming and challenging.

Why do we do that? Well, I know some of us don't, but a lot of us do routinely put off difficult or unpleasant tasks until the very last minute. As if delaying the inevitable somehow makes it more, uhm...evitable. In fact, as all of us procrastinators know, this type of temporary denial of reality makes our lives not easier, but rather more stressful and unnecessarily frustrating.

And yet, here I am writing on my blog about procrastination instead of doing the work that needs to be done. I wonder how late FedEx is open...

UPDATE: It's nearly 5:30 EST. I may make it...I've got about another hour-and-a-half to finish, 30 minutes to spruce it up a little, and then high-tail it to the FedEx office. It could happen.

UPDATE: Yeah, I got it done. Dropped it off at FedEx at 7:50, a full 10 minutes before closing. Because I'm not one of those guys that waits until the last minute. Yeesh, how lame would that be?

We are winning the Anti-Anti-War War

I don't rant often, but I wrote a snarling bit of prose not long ago about how I hoped that Hollywood would shrivel up and die as a result of their despicable efforts to wring profit from the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was not possible then and is still not possible for me to understate my complete disgust with the actors, actresses, producers, directors, writers, et al, who have made and released this year's batch of anti-American, anti-military movies.

This report and the accompanying comments, one of several such floating around in cyberspace, is based on box-office numbers, and bears out that most of the rest of America feels the same way.

Robert Redford, this guy wants to kick your treasonous ass to Texas and back.

My Blog Are Pretty Smart...

...according to this:

Get a Cash Advance

Actually, though, if my blog is communicating at the "College (undergrad)" level, what this probably means is that my blog is not really that smart, but it thinks it knows darn near everything. Oh, and please send money.

h/t to The PapaGolf Chronicles for this momentarily amusing amusement.

Rube Goldberg

More solid proof that mankind is not just another mammal. We are special.

This short video shows an amazingly creative bent and I think you will all be satisfactorily amused.

I have always loved this kind of thing. When I was a kid I used to make things like this, although certainly not on this level of genius and complexity.

Drive-by Blog Entry

Just checking in... some scattershot thoughts, notes, and activities.

First, it's freakin' winter here today. No snow, yet, but it is 25 degrees, counting the wind chill. And it is gusting at 40mph. Time to yank the A/C window units and actually do that weatherstripping project I've been thinking about for the last month.

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My brother has a blog. It is in this cool community site that his church has launched. It is sort of like a Facebook-style social networking thing. When I get time, I'm going to learn more about it and see if it might work at our church, too. I jointed their community yesterday so that I could post snide comments and random jibes, and I really like the vibe and feel of it. Check him out and read about his self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive approach to writing (or not-writing). Heh.

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Today I am neck deep in putting together a training presentation on A/V systems for worship that I will be conducting at a local church this evening. I'm looking forward to it. I used to do this kind of thing a lot, some 10 years ago or so. Training volunteers in this area of ministry is very satisfying. It is a balance of 50% basic audio technical info and 50% relational servant/leadership info.

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At church this past weekend, my son Jordan, with our worship team, led a song during the offertory called "The Blessing", by John Waller. The response of the congregation was astounding and inexplicable. He did do a great job, playing piano and singing, and it is an effective, powerful song, expertly arranged by our worship director. But the outpouring of emotion surprised us all. Jordan has played on our teams for years and is a very gifted musician, but this is the first time he sang the lead as a soloist. That was really the only difference this week and, still, that doesn't explain the weeping, the effusive affirmations, the hugs from strangers, the people calling us at 7:15 AM the next day just to tell us how moved they were by that song. Nancy, who works at our church, said staff and congregants alike were all still talking about it on Monday.

The funny thing is, JP actually didn't even know for sure that he was singing that song until last Friday, the day before the first service. Also, Nancy and I have always known he could sing and play, so we just assumed that he would give it his best shot and that he'd probably do well. He does have a knack for that. Sure, we were proud of him but, honestly, for us, it was kind of routine. As a family, that's kind of what we do and have always done...we go, we play and sing, we worship. And then we do it again next week.

But there was something different this time. The Kid was at the nexus of some kind of spiritual watershed event, I think. I don't have the answers, but I am intensely curious about what God is doing and what He is planning, both in the life of my son and in the life of our church.

I hope to have a video clip in a couple of days and, if I can figure out how, I'll post it.

"Gimme some sugar, baby"

The topic is TV viewing habits...and I don't mean watching the nuns on the Catholic channel.

In my family, tastes differ sharply. In fact, I tease my wife sometimes about her unseemly fascination with the "true crime" genre and how, to me, most episodes seem to be about some sweet mid-western wife who unexpectedly dispatches her husband in some peculiarly vile and creative way. Spooky, I say.

And both she and my son have always shared an enjoyment of horror movies, slasher flicks, and all manner of cinematized supernatural terror. Most of the time they eschew the outright demonic, but I do not care for any of them.

Except for this one.

I really like Evil Dead III: Army of Darkness. Directed by Sam Raimi, brilliantly written by him and his brother Ivan, and starring the inimitable Bruce Campbell, this is one of the most entertaining movies ever. Campbell is possibly the best B-movie hero to ever swagger across the dollar-movie screen, and I am definitely a member of the fan club. Hopefully, we'll get to watch it this weekend. For me, it is "The Princess Bride" of horror movies.

And here is a hilarious commercial Bruce Campbell made for Old Spice. Just what you need to get rid of that Evil Dead smell.

This is very, very funny to me.


Here is a link to Campbell's IMDB listing.

Statistical Analysis and Tommy Walker

I very rarely look at my blog stats. I go for months at a time forgetting that I have a counter and I always have to look up my password to get into the Statcounter site. Honestly, if I were interested in racking up hits or tracking who was reading, this would be a totally different kind of joint around here. I like hearing from my friends, and I've met several folks through blogging whose friendships I really value. But beyond that, I just don't care whether I'm popular or not.

But one aspect of my blog statistics does intrigue me. It is interesting to me that the most popular keyword phrase that time and again seem to direct people to my blog are "when I don't know what to do". It refers to this post, wherein I talk a little about one of my favorite Tommy Walker songs. I imagine that the people typing that phrase into their search engine have heard this song somewhere and it has resonated with them in a certain way. Most people don't actually read my post, and nobody actually leaves a comment. But that's okay.

That song bears an especially penetrating message of hope, in a world largely adrift in desperation and hopelessness. I am more than happy to do my small part keeping that message afloat.

Home again...

Home again and happily so. It was a good trip, as business trips go, and will likely be fruitful. Travel and accommodations were perfectly fine, without snag or complaint. That is, until I got to my car in the parking lot at the James Cox International Airport in Dayton on my return Saturday afternoon at which point I found that I couldn't find my keys. They remain lost to date, presumably in Atlanta, but who knows...they still haven't turned up. Nevertheless, thanks to my son, I made it back home in time to catch the end of the worship rehearsal at church and the evening's service.

The highlight of the trip was, without a doubt, the worship concert that I attended Thursday night. Diante do Trono ("before the throne") is the worship team of Igreja Batista da LaGoinha, a large evangelical church in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, that I mentioned in a previous post. I had been invited by Randy Adams, who is the recording engineer for most of the Diante Do Trono's worship recording projects. (Go here to see a list of Randy's astounding discography.) The amazing thing was that these friends of mine from so far away, whom I had never met in person before, happened to be in Atlanta at the same time I was, performing at a local church that was less than a mile from my hotel.

My friend and colleague, Jeff McLeod, and I stood behind Andre Espindula, the chief engineer whom I have known telephonically and virtually for several years now. It was a joy to meet him in person at last. The worship was wonderful. They had a full rhythm section, background singers, six-piece horn section and a pair of young dancers. Ana Paula Valdao Bessa is the worship leader and she is a great leader, possessing a wonderful voice and a strong passion for the gospel.

Jeff and I speak enough Spanish between us that we could roughly interpret the Portuguese lyrics and speech, although the languages are, in fact, very much different. It is not the first time that I have worshipped in a non-native tongue and, hopefully won't be the last. I believe that Heaven will be very much like that. It is likely that in Heaven, the Lord will reverse the curse of Babel so that we will all speak and understand a common language, but it is undeniable that the children of God come from every time and every culture on Earth. And language is an integral, inseparable part of cultural identity.

An especially moving segment was when Ana spoke at length to the predominately Brazilian audience of some 1200 or so people about the need for them to remember that most Christian believers in Brazil were saved as a result of the efforts of American missionaries over the last 150 years. She encouraged them to now do all they can to, in turn, embrace and positively impact their adopted country. I was somewhat undone emotionally by the passion of her prayer for our country, the outpouring from the people, and the power of the worship song that followed, Águas Purificadoras.

After the concert, at Andre's request, the host-pastor of the Brazilian congregation took us back to the green room and introduced us to Ana. As it turns out, we share a number of friends in Texas, where she went to college in the early 90's. She was humble and gracious, and it was very considerate of her to spend time with us after a rigorous evening. They were to leave by bus later that night for Miami, Florida for the final concert on the tour before returning home.

What an unexpected blessing this was, and one I will remember often for years to come.

More Groovy stuff

The new Midas XL8 digital audio console is amazing. Not only does it boast extraordinarily high quality and an amazing feature set, it has more cool lights per square inch than anything else I've ever seen. This little pic does it no justice, but it really is one of the most beautiful, aesthetically satisfying high-tech device I've seen in a while. Multiple interactive display screens, hundreds of illuminated knobs and buttons, it is stunning...like something out of a sci-fi movie.

To really see how beautiful these 3-dimensional decorative tools are from Rose Brand, you need to go to their website and follow the links.

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They are very cleverly designed and beautifully made, consisting of a spandex-like material stretched over a stick frame. They come in several sizes and are quite wonderful.

And, just to demonstrate the diversity of this tradeshow and prove that it is by no means all about technology, across the aisle from our booth is Starry Host Design. This is a company devoted to the design of creative worship spaces for children. They partner with churches and focus on facility planning, security, and an engaging, artistic environment for children to learn about God. Their website cites an important statistic, that "80% of the decisions to follow Christ occur between the ages of 4-14." Personally, I can testify that more than once, when our son was young, we decided whether or not we would attend a particular church based on the discernable quality, or lack thereof, of the child care. A church that wants to reach out to and meet the needs of young adults with families need to understand how critical this is. It doesn't matter how beautiful the sanctuary is, how wonderful the worship music sounds, or how great the preaching may be if the needs of your kids are being ignored.

This is the last day of the show and I fly home tomorrow. I had a great time last night at the Brazilian worship concert at Cumberland Community Church. I will write more about it later, but it was great to see in person some friends that I have only known for several years by phone.

Groovy stuff I saw today at WFX - Atlanta

Here are a couple of the more interesting products that I have seen here in the WFX exhibit hall.

Earthworks is a renowned manufacturer of innovative microphone solutions. Their newest product is really the cat's pajamas, though, their PianoMic System. At $4500 retail, you aren't going to find it on every piano you see, but it does sound extremely good and it solves several long-standing technical challenges in mic'ing a grand piano. Larry Blakely, their chief marketing guy, said that at the recent Audio Engineering Society (AES) show, they were swarmed by people interested in this new item.

Next is a peculiar product, really. The Corevalus SamePage System is, essentially, an electronic, computerized music stand. And, although my company is a dealer, I have been skeptical of what I've read. Having now seen a good demo and been able to play with the system myself, I am starting to come around. It has a touch-sensitive interactive screen that enables you to highlight or circle specific passages. It does some simple transposition. It uses a customizable database of songs, which enables the worship leader to easily add or subtract songs from a set list...while playing. The foot controller, used for turning the pages, works exceptionally well, which surprised me. There are a number of other commendable features that range from the convenient to the ingenious.

This is a young company with a new and fairly radical high-tech concept. Sorry, but I couldn't find any decent still photos of the product, but if you go to their website via the above link, they have a short online video demo that is pretty cool.

Also, Bill, Jeff, and I ate bison burgers at Ted's Montana Grill, a restaurant chain owned by Ted Turner who blurs the distinction between being insane and being insanely wealthy. The burgers were great and so was the hand-squeezed lemonade.

I will try to post more on other interesting things I see and do.
And perhaps eat.